Breast Cancer Health Center

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Me and the Girls: Erica Seymore

WebMD Archive

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"I didn't use the painkillers because I really don't like to use those
unless it's really, really necessary," Seymore says. "Right now, I'm working on
the exercises to get more movement in my arms and my shoulder."

Seymore will get radiation therapy. "That's the next step," she says. And
she will take the drug Herceptin to keep her breast cancer at bay.

Seymore plans to get her left breast reconstructed later on. "I have to wait
a year, finish off my radiation," she says.

Leaning on faith: "At first, it was kind of a relief to know what the
problem was," Seymore says of her diagnosis. "Not to say that I was overjoyed
or anything with the fact that it
was cancerous. But for me, the only way I have handled it is through my
faith. I've been praying for myself and I've had other people praying for me,
and so I've just been relying on the Lord's strength. It's very helpful."

Seymore says she has no family history of breast cancer and never thought it
would happen to her, especially at a young age. Like many other young women,
her attitude before her diagnosis was, "I don't see that ever happening to
me."

"But when it happens to you," Seymore says, "it's how you deal with it, I
think, that really defines your character. It's easy for all of us to be like,
'It's the end of the world,' or 'I don't know how I'm going to get through
this,' but for me, myself, personally -- and I would say for anybody -- you
have to rely on your faith, your family, and your friends to see you through these
things."

Seymore has this advice for other
breast cancer patients: Schedule some time for yourself every day for an
activity unrelated to cancer. "The activity could be reading, writing in a
journal, scrapbooking, or reorganizing a drawer," Seymore says. "Just make
sure you do something that takes your mind off the illness." Seymore also has
some advice for the families of people with breast cancer: "Treat the
'patient' the same" as before. "The illness doesn't define who we
are."